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I have a 2009 JCW. Love it, except for the torque steer, which I haven't gotten used to yet. I still do not understand the DTC, and DSC. As I understand it, if i do nothing, then it's on. If i push the DTC once, then the DTC is off, if I push it again, then the DSC is off. What is the best mode to reduce the torque steer the most? Would like to always have the sport mode on as well, rather than hitting the button each time I drive the car.
I prefer to drive in DTC mode or all off myself, then I am handling the car instead fo the computer, but you need to have some performance driving experience if you do that or you will end up in the ditch.
Brian you will get used to the torque steer just takes a few days. Check the forum as I believe someone offers a circuit board that will automatically pulse the switch when you first put power on so you end up in sport mode unless you hit the switch and put it back to normal
I couldn't stand the torque steer this car had straight from the factory. I was able to fix it with some suspension upgrades: Coilovers and swaybar. Those two items effectively dialed out 95% of the torque steer this car had. Now I barely feel the steering wheel move under heavy acceleration.
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2009 JCWBRG/WHT
Mods: KW V1 Coilovers, Alta lower control arms, Alta 19mm swaybar, Alta 2" shorty antenna, JCW drilled/slotted front rotors, JCW Brake Duct Kit and new-style splitters, driving lights, JCW Carbon/Alcantara Shifter and E-brake w/Alcantara boots. Future mods: Downpipe (vendor tbd) Forge FMIC, JCW Alcantara wheel
There's a huge torque steer,no question.I'm also used to it now.
It's the first thing i mention to anyone who wants to drive my car and i make a big deal about it(don't want to see my MINI wrapped around a tree).
It's a nuisance but the whole package is still so great that i can live with it.
4500 Miles and in no way used to it. Dunno about the folks getting used to it, but all my previous cars have been rear drive so I wonder if that matters. I'd say I even like it less now than last year when I first started feeling it after I broke the car in.
I often wonder if why folks don't feel it as much in a lowered car is because the scrub angle of the front suspension gets closer to the centerline of the front tires when the front suspension's quiescent state is lower?
__________________ Factory '09 JCW:DS/DS, Pkgs#1,2,3, Carbon Lounge Leather, Gray Line,
NAV, HD-Premium Sound, Xenon, other stuff...ooh & Mud Flaps! <hahaha>
...he goes by the name Lil'Buddy...
I am always amazed that people are shocked to find that a high-powered frontwheeldrive car has torque steer. Of course it does, that's inherent to the design. You can minimize it with suspension tweaks but it is what it is. Just like the Porsche 911 guys learn to drive their rear-end heavy oversteerers, part of mastering the JCW is understanding and controlling the car with the torque steer. I did my first autocross in it yesterday and two things tamed the torque steer considerably. First, new non-runflat performance tires (Falken Azenis RT-615's), and running the traction control in its least intrusive mode with electronic limited slip only. To get to that you keep pushing the DTC button until only the triangular "skid" light is indicated.
I am always amazed that people are shocked to find that a high-powered frontwheeldrive car has torque steer.
The new Ford Cosworth RS really tames the torque steer with a novel front suspension geometry. But like you found, there are pretty simple ways to make it better (or worse, depending on what you do to the front of the car).
But it is true that torque steer is part of the nature of the FWD beast...
i'm used to it. my brother drove it the other day and i was in his car ahead of him. i saw him floor it and the car was swerving left and right pretty hard as he tried to control it. i lol'd.
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09 JCW - Exhaust Depot Manaflow DP Back~Ghetto K&N Intake~17x7 Tenzo R Type M~NM Engineering Springs
I wanted to reiterate the point about my new stickier tires...I got them Saturday afternoon and autocrossed Sunday but now that I've been driving them on the daily grind for a couple of days, I'm amazed how much better they make the car. I expected the better ride, Houston has lots of concrete streets with expansion joints and the runflats amplified every one, don't even notice those now. The other HUGE difference is that without the crappy RF's clawing for traction everytime I hit the gas, the torque steer (and slippage) is muted considerably. I don't think the concept of RF's is inherently bad, Michelin now makes some PS2 RF's but they only come in sizes for M3's and Corvettes at this time. The ones that come on our cars OEM though just don't cut it as a performance tire. The bonus is even state of the art performance tires are relatively cheap for our cars given the smaller sizes, so I encourage everyone to see for themselves what a huge difference it can make.
I put an Alta 22mm rear sway bar on mine and I think the torque steer is minimal. If you floor any car, you should have both hands on the wheel anyway. Now the only thing I feel is an occasional skipping of the right front tire. I am still running RFs so that is probably why. The sway bar definitely changed the dynamics of the car and i can get controlled oversteer in the car now... which by the way is kind of fun.
2011 JCW Coupe
